A common type of cooking unit designed for domestic use is the cooking range wherein electrical resistor or gas burner heater units are mounted in a counter top within a kitchen area of a home. Numerous apparatus' have been devised for providing ventilation of the vapors generated during cooking on such units. For example, a hood may be positioned over the cooking unit to draw off effluents such as smoke, heat, vapor, grease or other particles generated during cooking. The aforementioned range hoods provide effective ventilation since their positioning above the cooking unit compliments the natural convection of the cooking effluents. However, the size and bulkiness of the hood often make it less aesthetically pleasing within a domestic kitchen.
A more recent approach is to mount the ventilator or suction means beside or within the cooking unit so that the ventilator opening receiving the cooking effluents is flush with the surface of the cooking range unit. Typical of such cooking ranges are U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,650 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,724 assigned to the Jenn-Aire Corporation of Indianapolis, Ind. This "down-draft" cooking range ventilator possesses the advantage of both compactness and aesthetic appeal to the consumer. However such down-draft ventilators do suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, although smoke, particles and other fumes are mostly removed from the general area surrounding the cooking range during cooking, there still exists visible as well as invisible flow of vaporized grease or particles that are not sufficiently pulled within the suction inlet of the ventilator. Consequently, if the fumes containing the grease and smoke are excessive, the down-draft ventilator is insufficient to withdraw all of the effluent into the suction inlet for discharge. Smoke and fumes which escape the ventilator are often then deposited along the ceiling and walls of the kitchen or in the area immediately adjacent the stove. Over a period of time, such deposits can accumulate causing a problem which is not only unsightly and requires extensive clean up, but is also a potential fire and health hazard. Present attempts to remedy the problem have relied upon installation of an electric motor which is sufficiently powerful to remove all the vapors generated during cooking. This approach has almost always fallen short of expectations.